Delhi HC query on child panel's functioning
As a result, six out of seven children, who were recently released, went missing and the seventh one was found living in a brothel.
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has sought the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government’s response to a PIL alleging that a child welfare committee (CWC) in the city wasn’t following the Juvenile Justice Act in letter and spirit.
It was alleged in the plea, filed by NGO Light Life Freedom, that the CWC-2 at Lajpat Nagar was releasing the children under its care to parents without following the procedure as stipulated under the Act.
As a result, six out of seven children, who were recently released, went missing and the seventh one was found living in a brothel. Expressing concern over the issue, a bench headed by acting chief justice Gita Mittal issued a notice to the district magistrate (South) and the CWC-2 at Lajpat Nagar and sought their stand on the PIL by the next date of hearing on September 18.
In another incident, it was found a woman (mother) was found in judicial custody in Tihar Jail on charges of trafficking of minor girls and the two children released to her had gone missing, the plea alleged.
A total of 18 children have gone missing in this manner, the NGO alleged and sought an enquiry, headed by a retired judge, into CWC-2’s functioning .
Urging the dismissal or suspension of the particular CWC’s chief and members, the plea urged it (CWC-2) also didn’t renew the license of the institute, set up to teach poor children at its home. The NGO alleged the CWC-2 was forcing it to admit the children, many of whom are kids of sex workers, under its care in government schools, instead of teaching them at its institute.